


The Not-So-Perfect Couple

by ZeroNegative



Category: Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeroNegative/pseuds/ZeroNegative
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone thinks that Vaan and Penelo were made for each other. Unfortunately, life isn’t as clear cut as the stories Penelo’s mother used to tell her about soulmates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Not-So-Perfect Couple

She knows what people say about the two of them. The whispers never stop, and so she never stops smiling and pretending that she can’t hear them.

_Did you hear what those two got up to now?_

_It’s so wrong!_

_Completely improper…_

Sometimes, the gossipers make her want to bash their skulls in. After the last few years, she’s certainly skilled enough with her staff that it doubles as an excellent blunt weapon when she doesn’t want to rely on her magick skills. She likes to imagine how they’d react if she actually answered back. Mostly, though, she just checks that her soulmark is still covered and goes about her business as usual.

Vaan, strangely enough, is the calm one in this situation. He shrugs his shoulders and lets the comments slide. When she asked him why, he simply replied “Who cares what they think? They’ll go on thinking it, no matter what we say. Just ignore it, Pen.”

She can see his point.

Even so, she can’t help but be bothered by the rampant rumours. Some are utterly ridiculous; the one including a terribly scandalous threesome between herself, Vaan and Larsa was particularly hilarious. The only reason that particular rumour worried her was the effect it might have on Larsa. She was aware that he had had something of a fleeting crush on her when they had first met, but because their words weren’t a match, she had simply skirted around the issue until he had sorted out his feelings.

The majority of Rabanastran society were originally utterly convinced that she and Vaan were in a loving relationship. Which, _eww,_ because she had never seen him as anything other than a close friend. Sure, they were maybe more physically affectionate towards each other than the average friendship, but she figured that that was due to the whole saving-the-world thing. Living and travelling together for as long as they did meant that the two hid very little from each other, even now. They were simply very comfortable around each other.

Penelo was aware of how most people viewed her situation. She was the odd little girl who had accidentally got caught up in Vaan’s mischief one too many times, and had disappeared for a while on some big world-saving quest. She returned home a somewhat different person. She bared a little more skin, gained a little more confidence, and stood a little taller when she visited the marketplace. Whereas she had mostly been ignored as just another orphan child in the past, she was now getting far more attention. Her dancing in particular spawned many new rumours. When eager mothers and grandmothers realised that she was yet to find her soulmate, after Vaan let it slip in public, men suddenly seemed to seek her out everywhere. Vaan, of course, found it all hilarious.

Some of the men were – as Penelo wrote in her frustrated letters to Larsa – total, utter creeps. Others were soft-spoken and shy; those, she was kinder to, but ultimately she turned down everyone who approached her. Some even approached her with gifts, as if the presence of said gift would assure their first words to her would be the right ones. As if she were able to magically influence the words circling her right wrist. The words that her mother had carefully helped her to hide; taught her to conceal with gloves, wristbands and long sleeves as a child. Now, she hid them amongst the colourful tattoos running up and down her arms.  

In the end, Vaan was the one to “save” her from the endless stream of suitors in Rabanastre. When Penelo had noticed Vaan getting increasingly fidgety and bored, she knew that the time had come.

_I’ll be going too, of course. Every good sky pirate needs a partner, right?_

She joined him in travelling the length and breadth of Ivalice in search of treasure and fame. After months of feeling stifled, Penelo felt freer than ever. For the first time in years, she was able to walk around their little airship and feel like she was at home. After all, the only person on the ship with her was Vaan, and they trusted each other implicitly. The first night that Penelo felt comfortable enough to walk around without her wristbands or any concealing ink designs, Vaan acted as if he didn’t notice, apart from a small pause when he glanced over at her in the middle of talking. He simply continued as normal, which Penelo was eternally grateful for.

Sometimes, on the lonely night shifts, she found herself running a finger up and down her soulmark absent-mindedly. She knew that she would eventually run into someone, and he – or she – would utter the words inscribed on her wrist. The thought terrified her. Soulmate bonds, after all, were not perfect and were certainly not a guarantee of happiness. She remembered how Reks – poor, brave Reks – had one day suddenly changed. He simply stopped smiling. He starting getting thinner and thinner; wasting away because he gave what food he could get to Vaan and Penelo. It was only when Vaan - with a worried expression on his usually mischievous face - asked her in hushed tones what it meant when a soulmark went pale and grey that she realised exactly what had happened to Reks.

Unfortunately, Reks’s situation was becoming increasingly common, due to the war and invasion; families were ripped apart, like hers had been. To Penelo, it was as if the despair that engulfed Reks had started to infect other people. The loss of his soulmate combined with his desire to protect his little brother and his homeland from the Imperials was probably what caused Reks to enlist.

Penelo’s own soulmark was, thankfully, still active. It was a rich red, which had simply made it more annoying to conceal as a child, but felt like it oddly suited her nowadays. The vivid pigmentation had reminded her too much of blood, and felt too bold and adult when she was younger. Now, however, she had seen the blood of her friends being spilt over and over in battle, to the point where it no longer shocked or scared her.

Vaan’s soulmark, by contrast, was a shining golden hue looked like someone had embossed his chest with gold ink. As a child, Penelo had been jealous of him. Vaan didn’t feel the need to cover or hide his; it wasn’t shameful. Instead, he wore it proudly on his bare chest for much of his teenage years. Only in the last few months had he surreptitiously decided to cover it with a pale blue shirt under his usual vest. Penelo was silently concerned, but chose to wait until Vaan was ready to discuss it.

In the end, Vaan was only ready to discuss his soulmark over a bottle of Bhujerban Madhu that the pair purchased to celebrate Vaan’s eighteenth birthday.

_Quite a performance._

_Who are you?_

Penelo was shocked at first. Vaan only smiled wryly at her threats to find and beat up Balthier. When Penelo asked him why he hadn’t told her, he simply shrugged and said “I dunno, Pen, it all happened so fast. The guards were trying to catch us, and all I was interested in was getting the hell out.” Vaan stood up, stretched, and was silent for a bit.

“Plus, with how the two of them acted, I kinda thought…” he trailed off. Penelo understood. For the longest time, she’d thought that the hume and viera were in an intimate relationship. It simply wasn’t a _soulmate_ relationship. It was only after weeks of travelling together that she’d come to recognise their relationship for what it was; Fran was to Balthier what she was to Vaan.

It was, she thought to herself, incredibly screwed up. Not at all clear cut and fairytale-like, as her mother had told her. Once, when she was more naïve, Penelo had truly believed that the soulmate system was perfect. She believed that one day, a stranger who would complement her in every way would show up, fit into her lifestyle, and things would be perfect. Now, however?

“Fuck soulmates.”

Vaan’s only response to her uncharacteristic swearing is to raise the mostly empty bottle and tip it towards her in a toast. He takes an emphatic swig, then passes it to her.

She downs the rest.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: These characters are not my own, I'm just taking them out to play in my sandbox for a bit.


End file.
